Dorian: Ballad of 1000 souls
by FrozenEvos
Summary: Dorian, the hero of Oakvale, finds himself not following the whole hero thing, and turns to becoming a thief. But when a mysterious bard is tied to many mysterious events, Dorian begins to realize his destiny. R&R lots of explosions, humor.


**This is my first Fable fanfic. It may move slow, so bear with me. I won't be writing the accents because I find it hard, so if you were expecting that, I'm sorry.**

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About seven minutes away from the Oakvale dock, a large ship, filled with export of all kinds, floated atop the deep blue sea. Besides the waves slightly rockng it, the ship itself didn't move an inch. Some unknown source held the ship in it's place. Something was wrong. 

Amongst the crates of food and tools, and barrels of mysterious substances, was a special item. This item was so valuable that it could make someone rich enough to buy part of Bowerstone South. The villagers of Oakvale came across this item three months ago. They cherished it, as well as put it up for sale in the other towns.

When Twinblade, leader of the bandit camp, heard of this valuable item, and learned that it was in the hands of the Oakvale villagers, he decided to raid the village, and take the item for his own use. Of course, he never went down to Oakvale himself. He would send a wave of bandits down to snatch the item up, but, due to lack of organization, the bandits would always fail. The villagers grew tired of these constant raids, so they decided to sell the item overseas.

Twinblade learned of their plans, and created a plan that would finally work in his favor. He would send a handful of bandits down to the docks and sneak onto the cargo ship. There they would wait for there time to spring out from the lower decks, ambushing the crew members and obtaining the item.

Twinblade sprung his plan into action, and sure enough, it worked. The fifteen bandits that hid in the old ship's lower levels worked flawlessly. They had killed some of the ship's crew by instinct at first, but soon they had beaten them all, tied them up, and thrown them overboard in no time. Afterward, they began to swarm the ship, searching franticly for the item they were sent for. Some searched the floors below, smashing open crates, checking barrels, and opening loose floorboards just to make sure. More searched the deck and the captain's quarters, leaving no place unchecked.

A large, muscle bound bandit named Skull stood firm on the deck, barking orders at the other bandits. He was appointed captain by Twinblade himself, so the others knew not to mess wth him, even though he was missing five teeth, and he made a whisle sound almost every time he talked. His brutal strength made up for his minor flaws, scaring the spit out of anyone who dared make fun of him.

"Now, listen up..." Skull shouted. A small whistling noise spouted from his mouth. "We better find this item Twinblade's been fussin' about. We've done too much not to get it now. If I catch anyone slacking off..." Skull grabbed a skinny, helpless bandit that seemed to be not doing anything. He pulled the skinny bandit near him and shouted, "I'll make you regret coming along, got it!?"

Skull tossed the skinny bandit aside and continued to bark orders at the bandits, who now began to search faster out of fear. It tool no longer than thirty seconds until a bandit began to jump for joy screaming, "I've found it! I've found it!" This bandit held a small, white box, no bigger than his fist, that looked like any ordinary box, but a special seal marked the wrapping, making it unique. The other bandits began to celebrate victory, howling and dancing around. Skull rushed over and swiped the item box, intent on holding it. As it lay in his hands, he began to smile uncontrollably, ripping the wraping away.

"Now, lets see what this item is." He said to himself.

Suddenly, a random bandit grabbed the box, forcing a fist into Skull's face, making him release the box and stagger back. Skull hadn't been moved like that in a long time, so his emotions were a mix of rage _and_ shock. He glared at his attacker, slowly filling with more fury as he realized he had no idea who the person in front of him was.

The man in front of Skull had worn the standard bandit clothes, but none of the bandits knew who he was. He was way too different to be a bandit. His build was smaller than Skull's, but was better than the average villager. His black hair was clean, as well as the rest of his body, and his piercing grey eyes set him apart from anyone on this boat. The stranger seemed fixed on the box, examining it as he just stood there, holding a small, lit lanturn.

Every bandit on that ship stood in awe. They quietly stared at the stranger and Skull, waiting for someone to break the erie silence that covered the ship. Skull's anger had finally erupted. He began to roar with the passion of an enraged balverine as he drew his iron longsword.

"Listen to me, you little bastard!" Skull demanded, confronting the stranger.

"Dorian." The stranger said, stating his name.

"Well, _Dorian_..." Skull continued. "You just took a cheap shot at me. If you give me that item, right now, i'll let you keep _one_ of your arms."

Dorian sighed heavily, barely letting the threat affect him. "I can't do that." He stated. "I've done too much to give up now. Stealing these bandit clothes, sneaking in this ship, pretending to be a bandit, it's all to much, really." A smirk covered his face. "You'll have to kill me before I let this go."

"My pleasure!" Skull began to laugh. The other bandits began to laugh with him, knowing that Dorian had just signed a death note. As Skull approached Dorian, the badits began to cheer for Skull, shouting, "tear him apart!" and, "Spill lots of blood!" Dorian reacted as calm as ever. He stuffed the item into his bandit vest and began to stomp on the deck. The deck broke easily under Dorian's foot, creating a small hole that lead to the lower levels. Dorian then held his lt lanturn above the hole.

"Don't move!" He yelled. Skull haulted and the bandits quieted down. They all stared at Dorian, trying to figure out what he was planning. Dorian's voice grew serious. "Did any of you bother to check the barrels downstairs?!"

The bandits began to question each other, pointing out that none of them did. "Well..." Dorian continued. "The barrels on this ship contain a highly combustable substance. If I drop this lanturn, it'll bust, we'll be up in flames in no time."

The bandits all gasped in fear. They were one lanturn drop away from obliteration, and their enemy was the one person who held their fate. They didn't know this man, or how crazy he was, so none of them dared to make a false move.

Dorian noticed this, and began to toy with the bandits. He would let the lanturn drop, and catch it before it landed inside the hole, and the bandits would jump back. When he did it a second time, they jumped back once again, fearing for their very lives. Some of the bandits even jumped overboard, just to get away from the stressful area. This little game would last for a full minute until a random bandit noticed Dorian's smile.

"He's not gonna do it!" He shouted. All the bandits heard his statement and sure enough began to ignore Dorian's fake drops. Skull raised his weapon once again, ready to chop Dorian's head off clean. Dorian first glanced around, then smiled once again. A small chuckle escaped his body, small enough not to hear, but noticable enough to make each and every bandit tense up.

"Fine." Dorian said, all eye focused on him. "Have it your way." Dorian them released the lanturn, letting it fall to the hole below. The bandits grew silent once again, watching Dorian, hoping he would catch it. But he didn't, and the lanturn sunk into the dark hole, shattering at the bottom. Skull dropped to the floor, and the rest followed, curling up into balls and covering their heads, hoping to protect themselves as they waited for the inevitable. They waited, and waited, and waited. They felt no vibrations, nor heard an explosion of some sort. All they heard were seagulls, the waves lapping against the ship, and someone running to the back of the ship, where the lifeboats were.

Skull jumped up to notice Dorian rushing to the back of the back, to the only lifeboat on the ship. It didn't take them long to realize that they all had been tricked. Skull roared and chased after Dorian. Others noticed him and followed close behind, swinging their weapons around violently. Some stayed back, arming their crossbows and launching arrows at their enemy, hoping to hit.

Dorian continued to race to the back of the ship as the arrows began to fly past him. The first few missed by a mile, but soon they became very accurate, becoming near miss after near miss. One grazed Dorian's shoulder, catching his clothes and pulling him down. The fall had saved him from a barrage of dead-on arrows, but Skull was standing over him in no time.

Skull's dark, yellow smile hung over Dorian. His sword touched Dorian's chest, the tip poking him. Dorian had no problem getting up, he just couldn't. He had no weapon, for he didn't plan any of this, so he couldn't protect himself, but it didn't matter, now. Death was grinning at him. Skull began to laugh, raising his blade. He let it reach above his head before he stabbed down, laughing hard as the blade lowered.

A loud boom filled the air, shaking the whole ship violently. As soon as it subsided, Skull noticed his blade, stabbed two inches away from Dorian's head. Dorian stared at Skull until he began to wonder what the loud noise was. He quickly got up, unopposed by Skull, and rushed to the port side of the ship. He seemed to freeze as he looked over the side. All the bandits, including Skull, mimiced him, and they all laid eyes on a gaping, flaming hole. A shiver traveled down everyones spine. They all knew what this was. As they began to stare at Dorian, Dorian still stared at the hole, saying, "I can't believe it acually blew up."

Another explosion went off on the other side, then another. Dorian and the bandits all began to panic. As the explosions grew more frequent, some bandits began to jump ship to save themselves. Others were frozen in fear, refusing to move one inch. The ship began to sink, fast, and Dorian knew the end was near. As he tried to reached the lifeboat, Skull's heavy hand turned him around and held him there.

"Your not leaving with the item!" He screamed above the chaos, gripping Dorian's shoulder. Dorian didn't have time to fool around. He quickly shoved Skull with enough force to make him trip, then quickly jumped off the ship, hoping to escape in time.

The mysterious substance was very powerful, indeed. When the flame passed over a large amount, the resulting explosion caused a chain reaction, blowing up two more barrel pits, resulting in a massive explosion. The explosion could be seen by the villagers of Oakvale, and heard by the citizens of Bowerstone. It split the ship in two pieces, and both of them were set ablaze in seconds. The explosion also propelled Dorian into the sea alot harder and deeper than he wanted. The mysterious substance began to cover the ocean like oil, floating and still burning, until the ocean became a sea of flames littered with dead bodies, burnt food, wood pieces, and Dorian, lingering in the deep down in the ocean below.

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**Well, that's it. The first chapter. I hope you like it. If you liked it, review. The second chapter is coming up, so please keep reading. **

**_Peace._**


End file.
